Compressor or a Thermoelectric Wine Cooler: Which One is Best for You?

If you are a big wine fan with interest in aging and properly storing your bottles, a wine cellar would present the best option. This expensive option would be possible in a perfect world. Once reality sets in, however, many people are faced with issues such as temperature variation, mold and all sorts of other hurdles that can get in the way of aging a great bottle of wine.

It is at this point that a lot of people will go look for another option that is affordable, and in most cases, the next step is purchasing a wine cooler.

There are plenty of wine coolers available in the market. Many of these are equipped with features that are very handy, but in the end of the day, the most important thing to look at when shopping for a wine cooler is the cooling method.

The big picture exists of two types of wine coolers: the types that utilize thermoelectric cooling and wine coolers that provide compressor-based cooling.

Each of these types of cooling methods come along with their own unique advantages and disadvantages.

Compressor wine coolers

A lot of people think that wine coolers work in the same way as traditional household refrigerators. Compressor wine coolers use what’s known as a vapor compression cycle in order to get rid of the heat inside the cabinet, the same method as an air conditioner removes heat in a home.

The core of a wine cooler exists out of four parts:
– the compressor that pressurizes the gas
– the condenser radiates heat into the environment
– the expansion valve reduces the pressure once the cooler hits the expansion valve.
– the evaporator absorbs heat from the air resulting in cold air that will be used to properly cool the wine.

Thermoelectric wine coolers

Thermoelectric wine coolers are a different type of technology that will become utilized to cool your wine. These devices operate by two pieces of metal that are fused together, with each side made from different materials. By sending an electric current through them, one side of the joined metal will become hot, while the other gets cold. The hot metal piece is basically a heat sink, allowing the heat to pass through and dissipate on its own. These wine coolers are based upon the Peltier Effect technique.

As you understand how every type of wine cooling system works, the next step is to choose which one suits you the best and will deliver yourself the best treated wines perfect to serve at any moment you like. The best known wine fridges are Miele wine fridge and Liebherr wine fridge. As these brands already exist for a long time they are world wide well known and have got a big reputation. There are also other brands available that will do the job. In the end it’s all about your personal taste and budget that determines which wine cooler will be yours.